Total lymphocyte count is a good marker for HIV-related mortality and can be used as a tool for starting HIV treatment in a resource-limited setting.

Objectives: Total lymphocyte counts (TLC) may be used as an alternative for CD4 cell counts to monitor HIV infection in resource-limited settings, where CD4 cell counts are too expensive or not available.

Methods: We used prospectively collected patient data from an urban HIV clinic in Indonesia. Predictors of mortality were identified via Cox regression, and the relation between TLC and CD4 cell counts was calculated by linear regression.

Identification of typhoid fever and paratyphoid fever cases at presentation in outpatient clinics in Jakarta, Indonesia.

In Jakarta, Indonesia, over 80% of patients with typhoid fever or paratyphoid fever are treated in outpatient settings. In a community-based prospective passive surveillance study, we identified 59 typhoid, 23 paratyphoid fever and 259 non-enteric fever outpatients, all blood culture-confirmed. We compared their symptoms with the aim of developing a clinical prediction rule that may help direct empirical antibiotic treatment to cases with suspected (para)typhoid fever, rather than all febrile patients, or refer patients for additional diagnostic tests.

Risk factors for typhoid and paratyphoid fever in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Context: The proportion of paratyphoid fever cases to typhoid fever cases may change due to urbanization and increased dependency on food purchased from street vendors. For containment of paratyphoid a different strategy may be needed than for typhoid, because risk factors for disease may not coincide and current typhoid vaccines do not protect against paratyphoid fever.

Objective: To determine risk factors for typhoid and paratyphoid fever in an endemic area.